Don't make a martyr of this silly Muslim girl

Samina Malik, the "lyrical terrorist", will be sentenced tomorrow, having been caught in possession of an encyclopedia of jihad and manuals on poison, bomb-making, firearms and hand-to-hand combat. The 23-year-old former shop assistant was also a fan of beheading videos and composed doggerel celebrating the murder of non-Muslims.

She, no doubt, will be glowing with satisfaction, knowing the authorities regard her as a mujahideen fighting the West rather than a malcontented idiot nursing fantasies of violence. Her prosecution under terrorism laws rather than a lesser charge of inciting hatred glamourises her, confirming her opinion of herself as a "stranger awaiting martyrdom".

But would I, a non-Muslim with no connection to extremism, be prosecuted if caught with the same material? I think not. The texts she held weren't proscribed, and the legal distinction used to convict her was that they were "likely to be used for terrorism". But there was no evidence of a plot and the only likelihood of terrorism was implied by Malik's religion and political sympathies.

We now have a state of legal apartheid, in which Muslims are specifically criminalised for possessing certain material and everyone else is not. The application of the law is at the discretion of the authorities and the conviction depends on a jury's prejudices rather than concrete evidence. Sending Malik to prison would be an insult to the reason and fairness that is the basis of British life.

Some argue that allowing people like Malik to possess such material and express their views creates a permissive environment, increasing the possibility of terrorism. But if the war on terror is being fought to protect our democratic way of life, then shouldn't we be scrupulous about maintaining the principle of equality before the law? If we deem an act criminal simply because the person committing it is a Muslim, we will have thrown away a tenet of British democracy and our moral authority to proclaim and defend it.

In our fear of being killed by terrorists, we forget those who died fighting to ensure our liberties. Every knee-jerk piece of legislation passed to quell public anxiety desecrates their sacrifice and undermines the very notion of Britishness that we desperately wish to maintain.

If foolish Malik's stupid poetry provokes us to dismantle our hard-won legacy of freedom, we will have proved ourselves to be even bigger fools.